The ‘academy’ is not restricted to the architectural limits of the university, but a broader conception of education that, through its social dissemination, ought to be continually shaped in relation to academic practice, thinking and living. Educational institutions are not solely modern providers of a pertinent workforce but foremost communities of thought with cultural, political and social importance. On the Facilitation of the Academy is thus concerned with educational issues that cohere, but also quarrels with, the university institution today as the highest institutionalised place for learning.

The contributors in this volume consider practices of learning, teaching and knowledge acquisition in academic environments. It challenges educational issues in relation to conversation, discourse and tradition as well as contains contributions on threshold concepts, knowledge production and dangerous thinking. Belonging to a variety of academic orientations – philosophy, educational theory, psychoanalysis, communication studies – the authors in this volume offer different takes, but share similar features and aspects, on the worries that should occupy academe today.